REDLANDS – A group of young Redlands historians are putting a grant to good use, using it to compile the largest body of research in recent years on the Mill Creek Zanja, Redlands’ historic irrigation channel.

“The Junior Historical Society chooses a theme each year,” said Redlands Junior Historical Society president John Paul Beall Frehner, 16. “The first year, it was Hillside Cemetery This year, we had an opportunity to work with the Zanja committee. Currently, we have the largest compilation of information on the Zanja ever done.”

In June of 2008, Sherli Leonard, executive director of the Redlands Conservancy, applied for a “Save Our History” grant from the History Channel, totaling $9,990. The Conservancy was one of 11 to receive the grant out of around 500 applicants, Leonard said.

“The students were absolutely an integral component (of receiving the grant),” Leonard said. “The purpose was to connect youth to the local history.”

The students used the money to purchase research equipment, including a laptop and camera, and to pay for mileage and compensation for club advisor Tom Atchley, who has led their efforts.

The group then set out to research the history of the Zanja, for the purposes of writing informational plaques, creating a driving tour guide, and writing a history curriculum for elementary schools in the area.

Under the direction of Atchley, around 10 active club members read about, discussed, and photographed the Zanja.

“Since September, the kids have met one day a week at lunch and they have spent every single Sunday working on this project,” John Paul’s mother, Kathleen Beall, said. “After researching the Zanja, they identified 40 important sites and compiled the information to write plaques.”

“Mr. Atchley showed us where we needed to take the photos,” said Alice Chung, 16, who took about half of the photographs for the project. “Everyone in the club participated in writing sentences for plaques.”

Part of the research project included writing historical plaques that will be placed along the Zanja to guide visitors and inform them of the waterway’s importance to Redlands. The information is complete and being reviewed by local historians and Zanja experts, to ensure accuracy.

“We’ve spent practically every Sunday working on this,” John Paul said. “We have assembled over 40 plaques of different information on the whole 12-mile span of the Zanja.”

The San Manuel Band of Indians recently wrote a check to the Redlands Conservancy, to cover the manufacturing and installation cost of around 30 plaques, Leonard said. John Paul said this tribe’s ancestors dug the irrigation ditch almost 200 years ago, hence their interest in the project.

In addition to the plaques, the Junior Historical Society is using their research to create a curriculum and PowerPoint on the Zanja, which can be used when students study local history.

“The PowerPoint is a curriculum we are assembling for the fourth-graders in town,” John Paul said. “Fourth graders study local history Without the Zanja, we probably wouldn’t have Redlands. It was dug in 1819 as an irrigation ditch.”

Club members said more than half the curriculum is complete, and it may be available during the 2009-2010 school year.

Those involved said the project will not only benefit residents of Redlands and its visitors, but has already given those involved a sense of accomplishment. The adults associated with the project emphasized the importance of youth being interested in local history.

“It’s hugely important because it shows there’s a generation that doesn’t have gray hair that’s interested in what it is that makes this city,” Leonard said.

Leonard said the project has taught the students how to accurately and thoroughly research.

Chung said the project is a way for the club to help save the Zanja by raising awareness of its importance – encouraging people to value and take better care of the landmark.

“I think the best part is knowing you’re trying to save something and knowing you’re doing something to save it,” Chung said.

The laptop recently crashed, students said, but no data was lost, and they are in the process of having the computer repaired. The laptop and camera will be available for future research projects.

“I get the feeling it would have been a lot more difficult to do this without the grant, but we would have found a way to do it,” John Paul said. “I believe all of us feel very rewarded by this project.”

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